


Bargaining

by LadyOfSnakes



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: What if?, spoilers for episode 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 05:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8132896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyOfSnakes/pseuds/LadyOfSnakes
Summary: Vex meets Saundor and doesn't draw her bow. She relies on another of her skills instead.





	

“My heart is someone else’s.” Vex’ahlia said, and did not draw her bow. She just looked at him, looming before them. Her fingers twitched for a moment, but she stilled them.

Saundor didn’t speak for a long moment. His strange yellow eyes narrowed at her. “All I ask is for one who understands me.”

“You asked for my heart. You can’t have it.” Her voice strained slightly, masking the shake her companions heard anyway. “You say we are the same. So you should know about me. I never take the first offer.”

“ _Vex’ahlia_...” Vax’s voice was quiet as he repeated her name. She heard him step forward, just one step before Keyleth whispered as well.

“ _Shh, Vax. She’s got this_.”

Again, there was silence before the tree-creature spoke again. This time, he took a step closer to her and leaned in. “Sweet Vex’ahlia. Why are you here then? If you do not wish to have a bond, why speak at all? So you can steal this away?”

He raised his hand, and from the ceiling emerged a long vine, carrying a deep green bow. The tree lowered it to Saundor, until it hung beside him, so close. She could have it in her hands within six seconds, if she wished. “Will you take it, like so many other stolen treasures? Yours because your fingers touched it last?”

“I want the bow so we can kill the dragons. I want to defend my home.” Vex gestured to her party, her family standing behind her. “I want to defend my companions. Do you ask me to betray that bond? Surely you think better of me than that.”

That caused Saundor to pause again. He tilted his head, studying her. With a small flick of his wrist, the vine holding Fenthras carried it forward, until it hung halfway between them. “You claim that my price is too high, greedy girl. But yet you keep talking. What is this?”

“This, Saundor, is a negotiation. I want nothing from you but Fenthras. Since you cannot have my heart, what else do you want?”

His head tilted the other way and his deep, mournful voice echoed again. “I ask for a bond with one who knows my pain.”

“You were right, before.” Vex’s voice felt a little stronger now, “I have felt betrayal. Everyone has. What if I give you an Oath? That I will fight to defend those who have been betrayed.”

“An Oath?”

She nodded, “If I have learned anything in the Feywild, it is that you do not break a deal made here. I will make that Oath and will be bonded to it all my days. Is that enough for you in exchange for the bow?”

“No.” Saundor said, though his voice revealed something. Vex thought she saw a flicker in his face, a twitch to his lips. “I need more. I need you to remember me, not just your own words, clever Vex’ahlia. So I offerto you a Pact.”

Vex could hear the breaths of her friends behind her. She knew they were eager to jump to her defense. If she grabbed her bow, their attacks would follow hers. But they waited. She remembered something Percy had said, the night of the Conclave’s attack. When he and Grog had been fighting over that awful skull, he’d said, “ _I trust your judgement_.”

They all did, they had to, or else they’d be fighting right now.

“What are the terms of this Pact?”

“You swear that Oath, and leave here with a bit of my power. Every time you use your power to defend the betrayed, you think of me. You remember.” He moved his hand again, and a new vine emerged from the floor. It took Fenthras from its perch and brought it closer, within an arm’s reach. “And you take the bow as a gift.”

Her fingers twitched again. It would be so easy to reach out and grab it now. “Will this pact compel me to do anything but remember you? I will not sell my soul for this.”

“No. And you will be able to leave as you wish, though I would be happy to see you return to me.” He glanced over at the rest of the group behind her, “You could even gain more of my power, if you wish, and remain with your friends.”

“What power would you give me?”

Once again, Saundor paused, as if deep in thought, before he spoke again. 

“I will grant you a way to ward yourself against blades.” He lifted his hand and traced a sigil in the air that seemed to shimmer. “And a way to make things a little nicer, how you like them. I will grant a rebuttal to pain you receive, and a way for you to be even more...charming.”

This time, Vex hesitated. She glanced back over her shoulder at her friends. Vax shook his head minutely, the tiniest movement that she only saw because it was her brother and she knew him. Then she turned back to Saundor. “You know, if there is any part of this Pact that you are leaving out now, it would be you betraying me. Remember that.”

He nodded, and stepped forward, his green hand outstretched. “You swear your Oath to defend the betrayed and I will grant you the powers I said. And I will give you Fenthras as a gift. You will leave here with your companions and remember me each time you fulfil your Oath. This bond is sufficient.”

She did not take his hand, still thinking. Grog, Percy, Vax... too many of her friends had made deals with powerful entities without knowing everything first. She would not do that. This was not a dream, nor an unknown influence, nor a desperate prayer in a tomb. “And my Oath must be on my own terms. I will defend those betrayed to my own judgement. I will not murder someone for revealing a secret under torture. A harmless prank pulled on a friend will not be judged the same as a traitor to a country.”

“Oh, Vex’ahlia. You _are_ clever. Very well. Your Oath allows you to pass judgement to your own conscience.” Saundor seemed almost....proud of her. The mournful tone of his had faded, and now he spoke more plain, as if their bargaining was enough for him. His eyes shone more green than yellow now.

“Then I accept. I swear that I shall defend those betrayed as I judge necessary. I will remember you each time I do so, Saundor.” She reached out and grasped his hand and shook.

A familiar tremble went up her spine, though it was followed by another, something warmer. She closed her eyes and felt her blood run hot for a moment, some new power surging through her. A rush of cool air swirled around them, and somewhere behind her Keyleth gasped. Vex opened her eyes, and before her stood Saundor, now more brightly green and no longer oozing the black mire that coated the bog.

“Go, Vex’ahlia. Take Fenthras with you, and remember me.” He bowed deeply to her before vines reached down from above and drew him away. “Whoever holds your heart is lucky, sweet one.”

She nodded up at him and took the bow into her hands. It too felt warm and alive. “Yes. That is true.”

Vex turned and walked out, slinging her new bow over her shoulder. The rest of Vox Machina fell in line behind her as they left the tree, silent until they emerged into the perpetual night of the Shademurk Bog. The muck still covered everything, but it didn’t seem to be sucking them down as deliberately now.

“I didn’t even get to hit anything.” Grog grumbled. “Now c’mon and shoot that fuckin’ bow. Let’s see it!”

In a flash, Vex had Fenthras in her hands. She pulled back the string, marveling at how easily it bent, despite the strength and the tension. A loud _thum_ echoed around them as she released the arrow, and it sailed off into the night. It was beautiful.

“Very impressive, sister. I just hope that was worth it.” Vax shouldered past her, his voice dark.

Keyleth fluttered her hands as she watched him stalk off, then turned to Vex. “I was so worried! He seemed like...just the worst person. No one should talk to you like that. You deserve so much better, and you talked your way out of it and it was _amazing_. He was such an asshole and I’m glad he didn’t like...possess you or something. You do not deserve an asshole.”

“Thanks, Kiki.” Vex smiled and reached out to her friend, squeezing her hand. “Can you go ask a tree if this fixed the whole cancer thing? He wasn’t oozing it anymore at the end.”

“Right, yeah!” Keyleth’s eyes lit up and she rushed over to one of the trees, dropping to her knees next to it and muttering something as she dug through the mud to touch the bark.

Vex felt Percy walk up next to her, his arm gently brushing hers. She looked up at him and smiled thinly. “Well, we didn’t die today.”

He blinked and shook his head. “No, not today. And you managed to get a Vestige without a huge fight, which is a first for us.”

“You’re not going to lecture me about making deals in the Feywild with the physical embodiment of tree cancer?” She forced the mirth into her voice, though from the way he looked, he didn’t believe it.

“I’m hardly the one to lecture anybody on making deals with powerful entities. You, at least, bargained him down.” Percy started to chuckle, and she couldn’t help but laugh as well. Gods, how was this their lives? “An Archfey, and you _haggled_ with him.”

Vex covered her face with her hand and shook her head. “I did. Didn’t I? It is what I’m best at.”

“Yes, and it’s quite endearing.”

She smiled and put Fenthras back on her back. She would have time to figure out the bow more when they were somewhere safer. When she felt like she could breathe normally again. “Percival, dear?”

“Yes?”

“I almost shot him. When he asked for my heart.”

There was a long moment of quiet while she just looked looked around the clearing, at everywhere but Percy. Keyleth was animatedly talking to Scanlan and Grog now, and under a different tree Vax was sulking. Finally, she felt a gentle touch at her elbow, and looked up at his face again.

“Oh. Do...do you regret not?”

“No. It’s just...that was a lot I was not ready to deal with. This whole endeavor has been like that.” She wrung her hands together, finally letting her voice shake the way it had been wanting to.

Percy watched her for just a second before taking her hands in his and gently squeezing them. “Yes, he was pretty shit. It was completely uncalled for. But you know what?”

“What?”

“He’s still shit. And you’re still you, with his stuff.”

She laughed again. “Yes, yes, that’s true!”

He dropped her hands and took a step back. “So, can you show off that power he gave you? Do you know what it is?”

“I think so.” Vex thought for a moment before waving her hand and muttering something. With a tiny burst of wind, the muck that clung to the hem Percy’s coat disappeared, leaving it pristine. “How about that?”

He gasped and ran his hand over it, as if he expected it to just be an illusion of some kind. “You are very impressive.”

“Yes, darling.” Vex smiled at him, then started walking over to the rest of their party. “I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> I really love warlocks you guys. The spells I picked for her are Prestidigitation, Blade Ward, Hellish Rebuke, and Charm Person. Just so you know. 
> 
> Reposted from my tumblr: infanttree.tumblr.com


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